The Richard Wells Research Centre at Thames Valley University

Improving Patient and Population Safety:

Rapid changes in how health care is delivered, and the sophistication and complexity of many care interventions, increases the risk of system failure and human error.  This module discusses the emergence of patient safety as one of the most important challenges facing health care today and assists participants to identify and apply effective strategies for reducing errors and harm. 

The four learning units explore the political and legislative context of an organisational safety climate; the assessment and management of risk and the mechanisms that contribute to system failure and human error in the delivery of healthcare; tools and techniques for the prospective and retrospective analysis of healthcare interventions in order to improve systems; effective strategies for recording, reporting and communicating risk, managing complaints and supporting the victims of error.

This module will use a “blended” method of delivery.  Fifty percent of the module will be delivered on line using a variety of learning activities and the remainder of the module will delivered in a face to face format.  The assessment for the module requires you to devise and present a framework for the critical evaluation of the safety climate in your organisation and write a critical evaluation of the safety climate in your organisation.